Artemis II Astronauts Name Lunar Crater 'Carroll' After Commander’s Late Wife

'A number of years ago, we started this journey in our close-knit astronaut family, and we lost a loved one,' Artemis II and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen said.

Kelly McBride Ni

Published: 4/7/2026, 11:33:37 PM EDT

Artemis II Astronauts Name Lunar Crater 'Carroll' After Commander’s Late Wife — NASA shares image of the moon identifying the two craters named by the Artemis II crew on April 6, 2026. (Courtesy of NASA)

During the historic NASA Artemis II mission, astronauts honored the late wife of mission commander Reid Wiseman by proposing the name "Carroll" for a lunar crater observed during their flyby of the moon.

The four-person crew—Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen—reached a record distance from the Earth on April 6, surpassing the 1970 Apollo 13 milestone. Shortly after that achievement, Hansen spoke with mission control and made the naming request.

In a live broadcast, Hansen described a bright feature on the moon near the boundary of its near and far sides as a fitting tribute. He said the crater could be seen from Earth at certain times, and that the crew would like it named "Carroll" in honor of Wiseman’s late wife.

Speaking to Houston, Hansen said, “A number of years ago, we started this journey in our close-knit astronaut family, and we lost a loved one.”

“And there is a feature in a really neat place on the Moon, and it is on the nearside/farside boundary. In fact, it’s just on the nearside of that boundary, and so at certain times of the Moon’s transit around Earth, we will be able to see this from Earth,” he said.

“And so we lost a loved one. Her name was Carroll, the spouse of Reid, the mother of Katie and Ellie. And if you want to find this one, you look at Glushko, and it’s just to the northwest of that, at the same latitude as Ohm, and it’s a bright spot on the Moon,” Hansen said. “And we would like to call it Carroll.”

“Integrity and Carroll Crater. Loud and clear. Thank you,” replied CapCom Jenny Gibbons.

Carroll Taylow Wiseman died of cancer on May 17, 2020 at age 46, following a five-year battle with the disease.

“His late wife, Carroll, dedicated her life to helping others as a newborn intensive care unit Registered Nurse. She is survived by their two children,” states Wiseman’s personal page on NASA’s website.

Name Proposal to be Formally Submitted

According to NASA, "after this mission is complete, the crater name proposals will be formally submitted to the International Astronomical Union, the organization that governs the naming of celestial bodies and their surface features."

The two previously unnamed craters are along the boundary between the moon’s near and far sides. They proposed naming the crater just northwest of the Orientale basin “Integrity,” after their spacecraft.

NASA describes Orientale as a nearly 600-mile-wide impact basin that straddles the near and far sides of the moon. The basin was formed about 3.8 billion years ago when a large object struck the lunar surface, leaving behind distinct concentric rings and dramatic topography, according to NASA.

Artemis II is scheduled to splash down off the coast of San Diego at about 8:07 p.m. ET, or 5:07 p.m. Pacific, on Friday, April 10, as the crew returns to Earth.